While young John Cloud isn’t yet ready to scale the big tree in his yard at home on the reservation, his heart soars at the opportunity to visit Papa at work. Papa, who has always loved to build, is a steelworker in New York City and can only return home on the weekends. John finds the city streets noisy and chaotic, but when he finally arrives at a huge construction site, he glimpses Papa, breathlessly high, helping to build an important new structure: the Empire State Building. Mohawk steelworkers helped build many buildings and bridges in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s, Iroquois author Connie Allen Kirk explains in her note that follows this fictional story. Kirk’s child-centered narrative emphasizes the skill and tradition of steelworking (which often runs in families) from the perspective of a small boy who is proud of what his father does but loves most of all the times when they can be together. (Ages 5–8)

John Cloud's father is a steelworker building skyscrapers in New York City, far away from their home upstate on the Mohawk Reservation.

When Papa is home on weekends, John Cloud stays close by his father's side, helping him with his work.

Between weekends John Cloud misses Papa and longs to visit him in the city. One day Mama agrees to take him there. New York City turns out to be busy and noisy, but what really astonishes John Cloud is seeing Papa on a high cross beam of the Empire State Building, the tallest skyscraper in the world. John Cloud feels as if his heart will burst with pride and amazement as he watches his father dance across the sky.

Set in the early 1930s and based on the history of Mohawk steelworkers, Sky Dancers is a warm celebration of family, courage, and the forces of nature. Sensitively told and stunningly illustrated, this is a story for all ages.